


Was zum Teufel?

by AzureHeart



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, M/M, Rinharu Week 2015, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-25
Updated: 2015-11-25
Packaged: 2018-05-03 08:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5284259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureHeart/pseuds/AzureHeart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What the fuck?” Rin said, taking in the view of this blue eyed stranger in swimwear.</p><p>“I’m Haru. My friends sent me here.” </p><p>a.k.a Let's travel between space and time rifts to meet your soulmate, shall we?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Was zum Teufel?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my attempt to contribute what I could for RinHaru Week 2015. This was supposed to be a Day 1 entry but I couldn't finish it on time. So I decided to merge Day 1: Firsts [Time Travel] and Day 3: Magnetism [Soulmates]. I hope the admins won't mind. This wok is rushed and is not beta'd. Grammatical and typographical errors will be sorted out when I get the time.
> 
> A little warning, I'm not sure if time travel between dimensions is supported by scientific evidence, much less if it's wholly possible. I'm only aware of the possible existence of Multiverse and I sort of took liberty to write whatever my mind came up with.
> 
> So here, enjoy this 'space time travel journey to meet a soulmate' AU. Hope everyone's enjoying RinHaru Week 2015!
> 
> XX, AzureHeart

**_Rin_ **

  
To say he was shocked would be a great understatement. Shock barely covered what Rin was feeling in that exact moment.

“What the fuck?” Rin muttered mostly to himself.

Blue eyes stared straight at him. Rin felt a shiver go up his spine. He shivered at the thought of how easily a person could lose themselves in those deep, blue pools. He recovered from his slight haze and found himself at a loss for words.

“Uhh… who are you? What are you doing in my tub?”

The man in question stood so suddenly Rin was taken aback for a moment. He watched as the man rose from the tub and a blush quickly found its way to flush Rin’s cheeks red. He quickly turned around and yelled, “What the fuck?” his hands scrambled to reach for a towel then quickly threw it to the back. “A little warning next time? Geez, you’re gonna give me a heart attack.”

“Next time?” Rin heard a voice say, together with light footsteps slowly approaching him. He turned to say something snarky but once again found himself speechless as soon as he saw the man standing beside him. The towel was draped over his head which means…

“What the fuck?” Rin said, taking in the view of this blue eyed stranger in swimming trunks.

“I’m Haru. My friends sent me here.” Haru walked out of the bathroom and Rin strode after him.

“Sent you here? What do you mean?”

Haru stopped and turned to face Rin, “… -om 1914.”

“What?”

“I’m from 1914.”

Rin was stunned, to say the least. Then it all clicked, and Rin erupted into fit of laughter.

“Nice one. Okay, you got me.” Rin cackled a little more. “Nice prank. Get the crew out.”

Haru looked at him dumbfounded.

“It’s okay, man. Where are the cameras?” Rin laughed some more. Oh, he hoped people would get a good laugh out of this. ‘They put up a good actor to this, I’ll give them that.’

When Rin’s laughter started to quiet down. He looked at Haru whose expression has still not changed. No crew were laughing with him, just silence surrounding them. No cameras in sight either, only a pair of bright blue eyes.

“I’m not joking.”

…

…

“Get out.” If it wasn’t a prank then maybe this person’s crazy. Who knows what kind of trouble this one would bring?

“Let me explain, please.” Rin looked at Haru. He doesn’t think he could do any harm. He motioned for them to continue in the living room.

But just to be sure, “You’re not crazy, are you?” Haru shook his head. “You’re not gonna go wild then kill me later?”

Haru looked almost offended, “No.”

“Then get some clothes first.”

  
~~~~

 

“So what you’re saying is, this Rei-person built a time machine and sent you here?” Haru nodded.  
“And you have no way of getting home unless you find a… time machine?” Haru sighed and said, “Yeah. Unless Rei gets me from 1914. If that’s even possible.”

“You said you’re from 1914, right? It’s 2015, if what you’re saying is true then shouldn’t we have heard about this invention by now?” Rin said then added, “It’s over a hundred years. A century, even! This would have made a great mark in history.” Rin exclaimed but Haru only shrugged. Rin studied Haru.

“You must be tired. You could crash here for a while… I guess.”

Haru looked at him in surprise. Rin raised his eyebrow, “It’s not like you have a family out there looking for you. I can’t just throw you out.”

 

* * *

 

**_Haru_ **

  
Haru stared at the wall. He looked at the clock that read ‘2:17AM’. He let out a sigh. This world was different. It was old-fashioned. He looked at the door to Rin’s room. He remembered the structure in one of Rei’s books. That type of door was used in the old times. And earlier, he saw a car out the window and it was travelling on land with its tires touching the road. Very much unlike his car in his home, which hovers on air.

“Where am I?” He muttered before giving sleep another chance to claim him.

 

* * *

 

_**Rin** _

By morning, Rin was roused from sleep by the smell of food wafting through his room. He stretched and got up to his feet. He walked out of his room to the living room and was unsurprised to see the couch empty. He sauntered to the kitchen to see Haru setting two plates down.

“You made breakfast.”

Haru made no move to acknowledge him but Rin sat down across him anyway. They ate in decent silence.

“Thanks for the food,” Rin said as he got up to take the dishes but pulled his hand away as Haru was also reaching for the dishes. He watched Haru take the dishes and noticed bunch of zeroes indeed on the inside of his wrist.

It piqued Rin’s interest, enough to make him ask Haru about it. But he was distracted by the running tap water.

“Hey, you cooked. I’ll wash the dishes.” Rin moved to Haru’s side by the sink.

“I should do the chores, I’m staying at your house.” Haru said

“Exactly, My house, my rules.” Rin said matter-of-factly. So Haru offered to dry the plates, instead.

Their silence was broken by Haru, “I don’t think I’m from this place.”

“Yeah, genius. You’re from 1914. I remember.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Haru dried the last plate and set it down as gently as he could he placed towel on the counter top and left Rin the room. Rin scratched the back of his head. He slowly padded out to the living room and found Haru sitting on the couch, knees pulled to his chest.

“Sorry, Haruka.”

“Just Haru is fine.” Haru looked more irritated than he was a second ago.

“Sorry, Haru.” When it didn’t look like he was going to get a response he said, “What do you mean, Haru?”

Haru slowly turned his head to Rin. “This isn’t my world. I’m not from here. Not just the time. I’m not from _here_.”

Rin frowned but did not say anything. “There’s… I know someone who looks just like you. His name was Rin, too.” Haru stopped. Rin did not know how to react. _‘Is this some kind of a joke?’_

“He looks exactly like you.” Ron couldn’t help but hear the longing in Haru’s voice. “Or at least he would have had he not drowned as a child.”

Rin saw a flash of pain in Haru’s eyes. But it was gone as quick as it had come. “I’m sorry, Haru.” Rin may not know about how Haru and his ‘other’ self – if he could call him that – was related but he recognized grief.

“At first I thought, you a distant great-great-great-nephew but… the things here. The things you have here; how they work it’s not the same. Most of the things you have here, I only read about in _History books_.”

Confusion must have shown on his face because Haru tried to explain to him the differences in their world’s technological advances.

“What you have here is ancient at best.” Haru said. Rin tried his best not to get offended.

“Wait, are you talking about parallel universe here? You’re from another dimension, is that it? I’ve heard about it but I’m not sure it’s real.”

Haru huffed in feigned annoyance. “I’m here, am I not?”

“Well, yeah but I –, “ Rin sighed and found himself at a loss for words once again.

“I don’t know the concept too well either. But my friends, Rei and Nagisa, they believe it’s real.

Rin did not know what to say. He was no man of science, after all. “Well, we shouldn’t let this day go to waste. How about you come with me and see my _ancient_ world?” Rin stood from the couch, offered his hand to Haru and said, “If you do, I’ll show you a sight you’ve never seen before.”

Rin tried to smile as he masked the stupidity he immediately felt after the words came out of his mouth. He saw Haru smile a little and felt embarrassment seep deep in his bones.

“Okay. But why do I get the feeling you say that line whatever dimension you’re in?”

Rin made a confused face but Haru was already starting to get up from the couch, tiny smile still plastered on his face.

 

* * *

 

**_Haru_ **

They rode the bus and got off at a station not fifteen minutes later. They walked for a short distance with Rin in the lead. Haru frowned when Rin stopped in front of a building.

‘University Pool.’

“I study here. We can use the pool when the team isn’t using it. They’re on break right now so… Wanna swim?”

Haru petulantly turned his head to the side. What wrong with this guy? Bringing a stranger from another dimension ta a pool.

“C’mon, Haru. I know you want to. You were wearing a suit yesterday.”

Haru watched Rin walk towards the entrance. He soon followed despite his initial reservation.

Bot took a quick shower and changed to their suits with much haste. When they got out of the locker room, they saw that there were a couple of people around. Haru felt a strong pull towards the water. He looked at Rin to see the red head motioning to the pool. Haru wasted no second diving into the depths of clear water.

The water felt great against his skin. Haru could feel himself being lulled into a familiar state of calmness. He heard a distinct splash of water on the lane beside his. Haru felt someone inching closer and closer. He knew it was Rin. He swam with renewed vigor. Precise strokes cut though the water and carried him away with great speed. But the presence was still there, keeping up. At the turn. Haru kicked the wall hard but they were barely an inch apart.

When they reached the starting block, both came up gasping for air. Rin was first to speak. “What the fuck was that?” Rin’s smile was of pure joy and excitement. Haru felt a strange pull at his chest that was most definitely not caused by the water.

“That was cool! Like, like – “

“ _A sight you’ve never seen before?_ ” Haru offered then quickly floated away.

After much bickering about who touched the wall first and a bunch of rematch to even out the score, Rin and Haru decided to call it a draw In favor of getting some food.

They went to the nearest café and was able to sit on a good spot. Haru watched Rin drink his latte then took a sip from his own. His attention was caught by the zeroes in black ink on his wrist,

“Hey, Haru. Do you mind if I ask you something?” Haru did not answer but Rin took it as a sign to go continue. “What’s the meaning of you tattoo?” Rin was point at his right wrist. Haru held protectively took hold of his wrist.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay.” Haru said quickly. “It’s a timer. It counts down ‘til a person meet their soul mate.” Rin raised his brow.

“It’s a… thing in my world.”

 

* * *

 

**_Rin_ **

“I see… So you’ve met yours, then.” Rin looked at Haru back to the timer.

“I – before I left – traveled here – the time was still over a hundred years.”

Rin only kept quiet, not knowing the right words to say.

“When I came here, it’s been like this,” Haru raised his wrist slightly. “Probably not working in this dimension.”

“We don’t have timers here but we do have this, “ Rin rolled his sleeve up and showed his wrist to Haru. “A tattoo that everyone can see except the owner. Like some sick joke.” Rin chuckled mirthlessly.

“Others have the exact name. Others, I for example, have random words that could be related to how we’ll meet out soul mates.”

Rin waited for Haru to say something. To make fun of the word on his wrist. But Haru was so transfixed with the tattoo.

“Water”

“Yeah, pretty stup – “ Rin stopped. He felt as if an enormous boulder was hurled at him and hit his chest so hard he’s having difficulty in breathing. Countless people have read it from his wrist, some poked fun at it because, ‘water’. How stupid.

And yet his gaze was locked on the strange writing that was suddenly written on his wrist. ‘What the fuck?’ He was most tempted to say but he could not find it in him to utter a single word.

‘Water’. There on his wrist. Inked in a magnificent shade of blue. Blue that looked so familiar. He looked up and…

“I see it.” Rin said mostly to himself. Mostly to make himself believe it was happening. His gaze shifted from Haru to his wrist then back to Haru.

“I thought – you said you couldn’t see it.” Haru sounded as confused as he looked.

“We can’t see it. Unless,” Rin paused as he tried to get his thoughts together. “Unless our soul mates read from our tattoo.”

Rin studied Haru intently he saw confusion then shock on Haru’s face as he realized what Rin’s words implied. Rin was about to tell Haru not to worry about it and that it wasn’t important when he recognized a new emotion on Haru’s features.

Relief.

He saw Haru looking relieved. Relieved from a burden, a concern he was probably keeping to himself.

“Then I guess… I’m your soul mate.” Haru smile, eyes reduced to crescent slits. He took Rin’s hand and laid it on top of the timer. “And your mine too.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know some points are confusing. I'll be glad to clear things up if you could kindly drop a comment or anon message me on[ tumblr ](http://rinshark-and-harudolphin.tumblr.com/).


End file.
